Tools

Two works by the local experimental filmmaker: Shoals and Waking Things. Like the early films of Kelly Reichardt, the 52-minute Shoals tells a minimal story amid the fever dream of a vivid natural landscape: three young ladies at a rural boarding school drift through fields and gather wildflowers to be turned into herbal remedies. The action turns ominous in the second half, though the movie is more affecting for its hushed soundtrack, low-grain photography, and still-life shots of simple, solid household objects.
ByJ.R. Jones